GA-880GMA-USB3 fresh install cannot see SSD,S (raid (0))

[jabberwocky]

Hi, My 88gma is showing its age a bit and the 2 machanical hard drives are having a hammering with my photo editing , with cash flow being a bit low ,i decided that the cheapest route to a real boost was a pair of crucial mx200 SSDs, running in raid (0) however after installing and setting up the array , both drives show up as healthy and the array shows up during startup as healthy (functional) the windows 7 install process simply cannot see them , I have tried the preinstall drivers , but nothing i do will make them visable, so I reinstalled me previous setup , and connected the drives to additional ports to see if I needed to format them , but they dont show up there either , windows7 cannot see them , so as a last resort, I switched port 4 and 5 to IDE mode and connected them there , now they show up ,but needed formatting etc . then back to reinstall but they still dont show up , members on the crucial forum say its a known issue with AMD boards, but can anyone here help me get them up and running .
thanks , Graham

[shadowsports]

Hi Graham,
I hate to start a reply intended to be helpful off on a negative note, but you may want to reconsider those Crucial drives.  Any deal you may have received or money you saved will quickly be eaten up in wasted time, frustration and long term problems.  Crucial drives are notorious for hardware compatibility issues, problems with sleep, resume, etc. I'm going to stop right there.   

Correct steps:
Connect drives to the MB (correct ports)
Set the controller operate mode to RAID
Enter the RAID configuration utility
Mark the disk as members and configure the RAID level
Save

Note: There is nothing you need to have done to the drives previously.  The utility writes the RAID metadata to the array (disk members) "con-joining" them and makes them ready to be formatted, partitioned or have an OS installed on them. 

members on the crucial forum say its a known issue with AMD boards

Boy that just says it all.

But seriously    Lets take a few minutes and verify your config.  Please provide basic system specs, your connected devices, what ports your drives are connected to, the operate mode for the controller and any specific port options you have enabled or configured.  Once done, I or someone else here would be happy to look at your manual and provide advice which will hopefully point you in the right direction. 

Cheers

[jabberwocky]

thanks , system specs :
GA-880GMA-USB3
AMD FX 6300 (6 core)
16gb ddr3 1600 ram (corsair vengeance)
previousely 2 seagate 500gb hard drives configured (raid (0))
using ports 0+1 for raid array.
six sata ports (sata 3 enabled) set to run in raid mode, ports (4/5) set in ide mode for optical drives.
----------------
bios settings .
---------------
on chip sata control enabled.
on chip sata type , RAID.      (options , (native IDE) ( RAID) (AHCI)
on chip port 4/5 type, IDE    (options , ( as sata type)  (IDE)
on chip sata raid 5 support ,disabled.
on chip sata 3 support , enabled.

these are the same settings that worked perfectly for the mechanical hard drives .
I have since formatted both SSD's ntfs logical drives .
assuming someone can spot a mistake in my thinking , how should I go about preparing the drives,for another attempt , or are they ok as I have them ,both are showing up as healthy .

[shadowsports]

Greetings,
Your BIOS settings appear correct.

You can connect the crucials to any ports SATA3_0~3, leaving ports 4~5 for CD/DVD to operate as PATA (IDE Emulation). 

Please confirm for us:
Enter RAID Config utility <ctrl+F> and select option [1] View drive assignments.  Crucials are showing as members of RAID0?  Now [Esc]. press option [4]  What does Controller operate Mode show?  [Esc] again then Save or Exit.  On restart confirm the array properly detects and displays at POST, two disk members as RAID0? 

Win7 install

RAID drivers.  Where did you get these?  From MB CD or website?  You loaded them on a FAT32 formatted USB stick?

After selecting language you get "Where to install Windows" dialog.  You insert the USB drive and select "Load Drivers" option (bottom left).  Confirm you load AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller?  Disk 0 (Unallocated) should now be selectable.  I think this how far you got, except the array never appears after loading the driver.  Is this correct???

If yes, options I see are:
Try a different RAID driver.  If you used one from the MB CD, try grabbing later versions from Gig or AMD website

Test with different drives.  Samsung or Corsair.  Your spinners work fine.  I imagine others would as well. 

I briefly considered asking you to change the SATA controller Speed mode to [Disable] to force SATA II 3g speed, undesirable yes, but this is older hardware.  Speed negotiation hasn't been an issue since SATA I and II, but why is it that the drives only appear on ports 4~5 in IDE Emulation.  Try all the above, if unsuccessful, I vote for different brand disks.  If I missed something please clarify.

[jabberwocky]

thanks for taking the time , yes I can confirm the steps you quoted ,and yes I have loaded the driver , during install but the drives simply remain invisible , considering what you have said regarding the crucial drives , I have decided to simply leave the "raid) option for the time being , and have gone back to start ,removing all drives and cables , setting the Sata Ports for AHCI, now windows install sees the drives, and installed no problem, the sequential speeds are a little higher than I was getting with the raid (spinners) but the SSD's  are way faster dealing with 4k files , this seems to be giving me a considerable speed boost dealing with my large photo files, and just about all aspects of the PC use are a little faster now .
I will look into "other" possibilities later ,when cash flow improves.
been looking for another AMD board , but the gigabyte website seems quite confusing and jumbled lately , not a gamer , though I do need a respectable performer for graphics and high throughput , do you know what are the latest AMD boards out that may fit the bill, there seem to be no dates to say which are the newest board on the website .
and many simply are not available in the uk.

thanks again , graham

[shadowsports]

Graham,
I'll defer to the AMD guys here.  I'm strictly intel since 2001.